Industry leaders emphasize performance focus as programmatic shows strong H1 growth

The industry panel, held at Rakuten Advertising's London venue, brought together senior executives from Azerion, PubMatic, WPP, and European Broadcaster Exchange (EBX) to assess market conditions and project trends for the remainder of 2025. Their insights reveal an advertising ecosystem increasingly focused on measurable returns amid ongoing economic uncertainty.

Summary

Who: Industry executives including Andrew Buckman (Azerion), Emma Newman (PubMatic), Jason Wescott (WPP), and Mara Negri (EBX/Publieurope) participated in IAB Europe's panel discussion moderated by Emma Jowett (IAS).

What: The panel assessed first-half 2025 programmatic advertising performance, revealing strong growth, increased performance focus, and strategic shifts toward measurable outcomes across all campaign types.

When: July 3, 2025, during IAB Europe's Virtual Programmatic Day H1 2025 event held at Rakuten Advertising's London venue.

Where: The hybrid event broadcast from London with virtual participation from hundreds of industry professionals across Europe and beyond.

Why: The discussion addressed rapid industry changes, economic uncertainties, and evolving advertiser expectations requiring performance-driven approaches rather than traditional awareness-focused campaigns.

According to Andrew Buckman, Chief Growth Officer at Azerion, the first quarter exceeded expectations despite initial concerns about geopolitical tensions and anticipated tariffs under the Trump administration. "We were expecting a strong H1 but not as strong," Buckman stated during the panel discussion. The company reported relatively strong first-quarter performance, with retail media demonstrating particular strength as advertisers emphasized return on investment and performance metrics.

Emma Newman, Chief Revenue Officer for Europe at PubMatic, echoed these findings while noting the extensive scenario planning required throughout the period. "I've never done so much scenario planning in my life," Newman remarked, describing the preparation of multiple strategic approaches based on potential political and economic developments. The executive confirmed ending the first half "relatively happy" and feeling confident about second-half prospects.

Performance metrics drive campaign strategies

The panel identified a fundamental shift in advertiser expectations, with traditional brand awareness campaigns now requiring demonstrable performance elements. According to Buckman, virtually no campaigns currently run without some performance component, marking a significant departure from historical approaches.

"Every branding campaign attention is no longer enough," Buckman explained. "You have to have awareness in there and brand lift and consideration and ideally something that shows measurable success further down the line." This evolution encompasses store visits, purchases, downloads, and other trackable outcomes depending on campaign objectives.

Newman confirmed this trend, noting that performance elements now appear across channels traditionally considered branding-focused. Connected television campaigns, for example, increasingly incorporate performance asks alongside brand objectives. The shift extends to supply chain preferences, with advertisers moving from open exchange buying toward deal-based purchasing for greater transparency and control.

Jason Wescott, Global Head of Commerce Solutions at WPP Media and Chair of IAB Europe's Retail & Commerce Media Committee, provided industry context through WPP's biannual forecasting data. The agency downgraded global advertising revenue growth projections from 7.7% to 6% in June, reflecting broader economic uncertainties.

However, digital advertising maintains strong momentum within this environment. According to Wescott, pure-play digital currently represents approximately 73% of global advertising revenue, expanding to 81% when including digital extensions like connected television and digital out-of-home. These figures project reaching 87% by 2030, demonstrating digital's continued trajectory toward market dominance.

Programmatic acceleration drives channel expansion

Wescott highlighted significant programmatic growth acceleration, citing 18.4% expansion in 2024 compared to 7.4% the previous year. This represents more than double the previous growth rate, driven by channel democratization and expanded access to programmatic buying capabilities.

The data reveals interesting market dynamics among different advertiser segments. According to Wescott's analysis of the top 350 global brands, their digital advertising share stands at only 47%, while all other advertisers maintain 80% digital allocation. This gap suggests substantial growth potential as larger brands gradually increase their digital investment proportions.

Connected television emerged as a particular growth driver across panelist companies. Mara Negri, CEO of European Broadcaster Exchange and VP of Marketing at Publieurope, reported first-half performance meeting expectations, supported by both consumer viewing shifts and evolving broadcaster offerings.

"All the broadcaster has also changing the offer and is becoming more and more available in programmatic," Negri explained. The executive noted that initial broadcasters are providing programmatic access to linear television inventory, potentially boosting second-half investment levels.

Technical infrastructure and market consolidation trends

The panel discussion revealed ongoing infrastructure developments aimed at improving campaign efficiency and advertiser accessibility. Newman described work with broadcasters to educate them about capturing linear television budgets as viewership migrates to video-on-demand platforms.

According to Newman's analysis, linear advertising budgets do not automatically follow consumers to streaming platforms. Instead, this spending often redirects to social media, search, and retail media channels. This dynamic requires strategic intervention to ensure broadcaster participation in the evolving media ecosystem.

Buckman emphasized retail media's growing sophistication, describing it as becoming "much more of a natural path to market for most advertisers." The executive anticipates increased pressure for better return on investment throughout the second half, driven by competitive dynamics in connected television and retail media maturation.

Industry consolidation emerged as another significant trend, though panelists distinguished between traditional mergers and strategic partnerships. Newman cited recent collaborations between historically competitive entities, including TF1 and Netflix in France, and Sky, Channel 4, and ITV partnerships designed to compete against global over-the-top platforms.

Artificial intelligence integration and automation advances

The panel addressed artificial intelligence's growing role in programmatic advertising, particularly in agentic applications that improve platform accessibility. According to Buckman, AI implementations focus on making complex tools more user-friendly through natural language interfaces.

"The agentic AIs now help you use natural language just to say I want to campaign for BMW in the southwest of France for 45 to 60 year old professionals and it'll go out and do it," Buckman described. This development potentially reduces training requirements for new industry professionals while improving operational efficiency.

Newman emphasized AI's value in full-funnel measurement capabilities, enabling real-time campaign optimization and comprehensive performance tracking across awareness, consideration, and conversion metrics. The technology supports partner selection based on transparency, reporting quality, and optimization capabilities.

Wescott highlighted automation's importance beyond basic optimization, noting advertisers' expectations for continuous monitoring and algorithmic updates rather than periodic manual adjustments. This shift requires technology infrastructure capable of real-time performance analysis and automated campaign modifications.

Market outlook and strategic recommendations

The panel concluded with strategic recommendations for navigating the evolving programmatic landscape. According to Buckman, outcomes must become core campaign elements rather than optional enhancements, with measurable performance impacts required across all advertising initiatives.

Newman stressed the importance of detailed campaign briefs to ensure delivery teams understand specific outcome requirements. "Write your brief properly so that the people who are responsible for delivering your outcome actually know what they're trying to deliver," Newman advised.

Wescott emphasized commitment to sophisticated measurement approaches despite increased complexity. "Commit with no compromise," the executive recommended, advocating for leveraging available data points and automation technologies to achieve superior outcomes while avoiding implementation shortcuts.

Negri highlighted measurement standardization challenges, particularly in cross-device impact assessment and total campaign results. "Be sure you are comparing apple to apple," Negri advised, noting ongoing difficulties in comprehensive campaign measurement until industry-wide solutions emerge.

The panel underscored data utilization as fundamental to modern programmatic advertising success. According to the collective assessment, actionable data should drive decision-making and planning rather than serving as mere checkbox requirements for campaign reporting.

This news matters significantly for the marketing community as it demonstrates the programmatic advertising industry's maturation toward performance-oriented, outcome-driven strategies. Recent coverage has shown 72% of marketers planning to increase programmatic investment in 2025, with connected television's media budget share projected to double from 14% in 2023 to 28% in 2025.

The emphasis on measurable performance aligns with broader industry trends documented across multiple channels. Industry analysis revealed European digital advertising reached €118.9 billion in 2024, with video content and retail media leading expansion across the continent.

The panel's insights particularly resonate given ongoing developments in programmatic curation and automation. Recent industry debates have highlighted tensions between efficiency demands and competitive differentiation needs, while platform expansions continue reshaping access to premium inventory.

Timeline

• July 3, 2025: IAB Europe's Virtual Programmatic Day H1 2025 panel reveals strong first-half performance and performance-focused campaign evolution
• June 2025: WPP downgrades global advertising revenue growth forecast from 7.7% to 6%, reflecting economic uncertainties
• Q1 2025: Azerion reports relatively strong performance with retail media strength and ROI-focused advertiser demands
• 2024: Programmatic advertising grows 18.4% compared to 7.4% previous year growth rate
• Industry curation standards gain traction following IAB Tech Lab framework establishment
• Connected TV partnerships expand with retail media data integration
• AI assistant launches demonstrate automation trends in programmatic platforms